During the crisis of 1794, when there were grave fears of a
French invasion, the government pressed for the formation of
volunteer corps across the country, and in April 1794, letters
were circulated to the Lords Lieutenant of each county
instructing them to raise regiments of yeomanry. In
Leicestershire, a meeting was held at the
Three Crowns Inn in Leicester on
April 10, where the details were organised and a list of
subscribers who were willing to provide funds made out. The
colonelcy was given to Sir
William Skeffington, a retired Major in the
Grenadier Guards, dated
May 9,
and he and Captain Curzon kissed the King's hand on
June 11 to report that they had raised their full complement
of men. The regiment paraded in six troops on
July 4 to receive their standards.

The regiment was re-raised in September 1803, as the
Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. Sir William was still
considered the colonel, indicating that this was considered a
reformation and not simply a newly raised regiment, and on
November 1st he resigned the colonelcy, and was succeeded by
Lieutenant-Colonel Keck (LYC 1803.11.01-1860) .

From 1825, when the
Rutland Legion was disbanded, the Leicestershire Yeomanry
recruited from
Rutland as well as Leicestershire.

The regiment was mobilised to keep the peace on a number of
occasions, such as its service at
Derby
in October 1831; workers in the city had rioted after the
Reform Bill was rejected by the House of Lords, and the
yeomanry was called in to help the regular army and the
Derbyshire Yeomanry maintain order.

The regiment was renamed for
Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, in 1844. After Royal
escort duties in the County the Prince Consort bestowed the
honour on the Regiment.

Circa 1893 the Leicestershire Yeomanry cavalry and the
Derbyshire Yeomanry Cavalry merged to form the 6th Yeomanry
Brigade.

20th Century

The regiment
sponsored two companies of the Imperial Yeomanry in 1900 (the
7th and 65th), for service in the
South African War, and in 1901 was itself reorganized as
mounted infantry as the Leicestershire (Prince Albert's
Own) Imperial Yeomanry. In 1908 it was transferred into the
Territorial Force, returning to a cavalry role and equipping
as
hussars, under the new title of The Leicestershire
(Prince Albert's Own) Yeomanry.

At Frezenberg, they went into action in the trenches on May 12th
as dismounted infantry, numbering 291 all ranks, alongside the
1st Life Guards (Left in line) and
2nd Life Guards (Middle in line). LY (Right in line), B and
C Squadrons took up forward positions in the advanced trenches,
with A Squadron to the rear in support trenches (approx 350
yards behind and positioned to the left side of the forward
Squadrons trenches).

The regiment suffered heavy shellfire through the morning,
though with light casualties, until around 6am, the German
infantry opposite launched an attack, which was quickly
repulsed; shelling resumed until about 7:30, covering a German
infiltration of advanced trenches which had been vacated by the
2nd Life Guards. The Germans began to press on B Squadron,
forcing them south and west along their trenches, and driving
them back into the C Squadron trenches. The squadrons were
rallied by the commander of C Squadron, Major Martin, who, the
regimental diary records, "by his undaunted courage and example
got his men to make a great stand against large odds". Martin
was killed holding the trench line, and at this point, the
survivors remaining in the forward trenches fell back -
numbering a lieutenant, the squadron sergeant-major, and
fourteen men. They fell back towards a railway line in the rear,
and reached trenches held by the
3rd Dragoon Guards; they remained in the line here until
8pm, when the 3rd Dragoon Guards withdrew.

Lt.Col.The Hon. P C
Evans-Freke

A Squadron, meanwhile, had held the support trench under
strong shellfire until 5:30am, when they began to fall back
towards the road behind the trenches. They were met part-way by
the regimental commander, Lt. Colonel The Hon. P C Evans-Freke,
the second-in-command and the adjutant. The Colonel shouted
"Hold hard Leicester Yeomanry!" and A squadron halted and
returned to the support trench. The Colonel was killed directing
the defence of the trench, and arranging a post to guard the
flank of the 1st Life Guards, shortly before the attack at
7:30am. This attack was held off by A Squadron, and the line
stabilised with the Germans digging in close to the trenches.

At 8pm, a messenger from
7th Cavalry Brigade HQ informed the acting commander that A
Squadron was "the only squadron holding the section of trench
originally occupied by 7th Brigade", and that they were to hold
the line until a counterattack could be mounted. By the morning
of the 13th, 7 officers - including the regimental commander and
two of three squadron commanders - and 87 other ranks had been
killed; the unwounded numbered only 92 other ranks. The
counterattack, launched the next afternoon at 2:30pm by
8th Cavalry Brigade, was a success. The Yeomanry managed to
muster around forty men, led by the Brigade Major, for the
bayonet charge, and retook some of the trenches formerly held by
B squadron and the Life Guards - those held by C squadron had
collapsed under heavy fire.

The manuscript record of the state of the Regiment produced
immediately after the battle has been framed and is kept on the
wall of the Officers' Mess of B(LDY) Squadron in Glen Parva,
Leicester.

1917 & 1918

After being heavily depleted in Second Ypres, the regiment
did not see significant action throughout 1916; in 1917, it saw
action at the
Battle of Arras and the Battle of the Scarpe. In March 1918
it was withdrawn from the division and ordered to reform as a
cyclist battalion, later countermanded in favour of amalgamation
with the
North Somerset Yeomanry as a machine-gun battalion. However,
the offensives of 1918 provided a need for cavalry units, and
before the regiment could amalgamate it was remounted and sent
to the
3rd Cavalry Brigade of
2nd Cavalry Division, where it was split up to provide
reinforcements. One squadron of the regiment was sent to each of
the Brigade's constituent regiments - C Sqn, LY to the
4th (Queen's Own) Hussars, A Sqn, LY to the
5th (Royal Irish) Lancers and B Sqn, LY to the
16th (The Queen's) Lancers. These saw action in the
Battle of Amiens, the
Battle of the Hindenburg Line, and the
Pursuit to Mons, for each of which the regiment received a
battle honour. The regiment raised a second-line battalion, the
2/1st Leicestershire Yeomanry, in September 1914; this remained
in the United Kingdom, did not see service, and was converted
into a cyclist unit in 1916. A third-line battalion was formed
in 1915, and remained in the United Kingdom until absorbed into
the
3rd Reserve Cavalry Regiment in 1917.

After the war, the regiment reformed in the
Territorial Army in 1920 as The Leicestershire Yeomanry
(Prince Albert's Own).

The Second World War

The regiment did not mechanise before the outbreak of the
Second World War, and continued to train for service as
horsed cavalry. In early 1939 it was authorised by the
War Office to recruit up to its full wartime establishment,
and with a heavy drive this was reached in May, with a
headquarters squadron and three sabre squadrons. As part of the
Cavalry Corps, which by now consisted almost entirely of
Yeomanry units, it was assigned a wartime role as part of 6th
Cavalry Brigade in the
1st Cavalry Division. However, in the summer of 1939, the
divisional organisation was slightly reorganised, and the
regiment switched roles with the
Cheshire Yeomanry to become the divisional cavalry regiment.
In late 1939, it was decided to send the division overseas to
Palestine, and convert the seven remaining yeomanry regiments
not assigned to the division into artillery regiments. However,
a dedicated cavalry regiment was apparently considered surplus
to requirements in the Cavalry Division, and the Leicestershire
Yeomanry was removed from its role and assigned for conversion
along with the other regiments. It chose the
field artillery role, and in early 1940 was split into two
halves in order to form two separate regiments. In February
1940, the first unit was formed in the
Royal Artillery as 153rd (Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field
Regiment, RA, with the second, 154th (Leicestershire
Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA, forming on 15th April 1940.

After the War, the regiment reconstituted in the
Territorial Army as a yeomanry regiment, under its old title
of The Leicestershire Yeomanry (Prince Albert's Own), and
transferred into the
Royal Armoured Corps. In 1957 it amalgamated with
The Derbyshire Yeomanry, forming
The Leicestershire and Derbyshire (Prince Albert's Own) Yeomanry.
The later part of the century saw the regiment reduced in size
and role but eventually saw the return to its rightful place in
the Royal Armoured Corps becoming a Squadron of the Royal
Yeomanry. The new Squadron HQ firmly seated in Leicester. Direct
lineage back to the LDY Regiment came from the Ilkeston
(Derbyshire) detachment of LDY PAO Squadron that became B (LDY
PAO) Coy, 3rd (V) WSFR in 1978 and disbanded in 1992. The
LDY PAO Guidon was returned to B (LDY PAO) Squadron RY from C
(LDY PAO) Coy 7 (V) RAR in 1992, however, C (LDY PAO) Coy 7 RAR
did not disband until 1996; Whereupon the Leicestershire
lineage, proper, returned back to B (LDY PAO) Squadron, RY.

21st Century

The
Leicestershire and Derbyshire (Prince Albert's Own) Yeomanry
lives on as B (LDY PAO) Squadron of the Royal Yeomanry
with its Squadron HQ in Leicester.
Soldiers from LDY Squadron are on active service attached to
regular regiments, still maintaining the duty of the County
Yeomanry Regiments that were formed over 200 years ago.

The Royal Yeomanry, for the first time since its
establishment in 1967, is cap badged as RY and plans are being
made for its own regimental Guidon. All the "Squadron
Regiment's" battle honours will be gathered in one place in the
new RY Guidon. This will cement the existence of the "Squadron
Regiments" into the Royal Yeomanry Regiment for as long as
it exists.